BE sure to re-read the first post now to see The Map (or just view it here)PART II: WARS AND INTRIGUE

War! Tenoko’s Water Tribe armies were losing morale due to the loss of the Northern Water Tribe Capital and the Southern Tribe City of Cronia. However, the valiant efforts of Katara Zelgius Altina II, Koara Mai Lombardi, and Kyla Yangchen Dao Le kept the Southern Capital City of Koldia from falling into the hands of Avatar Zuroc and becoming part of The Avatar Realm. However, after the eclipse, news of an Air nomad rebellion in the Eastern Air Temple brought interesting news back to the Tribes. Led by a woman named Xilingshi Nailah Zoraki, the Air Nomads in the East had claimed a large portion of their lands back. However, it went to the Water Tribes, due to the Air Nomads, as well as the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, no longer existing. This has become a very careful war—with one wrong move possibly leading to a person’s ultimate and grim demise.

CHAPTER 13: A VAST STROKE OF LUCKKatara was deep in the heart of the captured city of Cronia. However, like Tenoko and Sokka had said, she was far from deterred. This had only made her a little annoyed, and she wasn’t about to bust loose just yet. She was going to figure out how to get herself at least two steps ahead of her captors, like she usually wound up doing. She was still in her full Kyoshi uniform, and she was chained at the wrists and ankles to two large columns, so that she was in a semi-kneeling position.

“You know,” she remarked, seeing someone come into the room, “if you want to kill me, it’s not like I’m really inclined to fight back right now. It’d work as a mighty fine diversion though to let the troops come reclaim their city. The Avatar Realm does not need to exist.”

The person who had entered, a female who, in the darkness, Katara could only tell was wearing a long-sleeved dress of some sort, slowly strode over towards where Katara was chained. Katara waited for her to arrive, and when she did, Katara actually was in for a bit of a shock.

It was an old woman—a Fire Nation one by the looks of her eyes and her clothes. Her hair was grey and done back into a bun with several loose curls. She had a prominent face, and blood-red eyeliner over her eyes that made her face look even more pronounced. She had a deep red dress with gold lining on, and wore large, gold loop earrings. Her face though, was what made this woman scary was her face—it was locked in a smile. Based on the way she moved her mouth, it looked like her jaw had sustained partial paralysis. To Katara, it did not look like this woman was able to not smile.

“On the contrary,” the woman replied, “The Avatar Realm is the New United World: a world that keeps the physical world and the spirit world connected by one force, and that force dominates both of said worlds. This, child, is the will of Avatar Zuroc.”

“then tell me,” said Katara, not losing her cool,” who is this Avatar that seeks to disintegrate and destroy the universe that we live in and replace it with one of her own?”

“Avatar Zuroc,” the woman replied sweetly, “did you not hear me?”

“No,” Katara remarked, “who IS this Avatar Zuroc?”

“You will see in due time,” the woman replied sweetly, “and perhaps your friends will be there as well.”

“Perhaps they will,” Katara smirked, “perhaps they will. I’ve already said though—doing anything to me will do little to hinder their forces. People might look up to me, but they don’t follow me—they follow Chief Tenoko Dragmire.”

Suddenly a smashing sound was heard, and the woman’s smile grew wider than it already was.

“The battle beckons,” she smirked, “We shall meet again.”

Katara jerked at her chains—she finally caught on to what they were doing. They were holding her out of the battle, like a weapon that only her allies could use. As soon as the woman left, several guards, both male and female came in to watch over Katara. They did not trust her power any more than Katara herself did. Many of them mocked her, but Katara remained firm, and kept her eyes closed. She was not going to take anything from them, but instead was resting up.

The sound, needless to say, was that of a catapult rock hitting the walls of Cronia. The Water Tribe forces of Koldia had launched an all out assault on Cronia, and this time they were backed up by several hundred Air Nomads, the Lady Xilingshi among them as their leader. She was a young woman around the age of 21 who wore an outfit similar to the one Katara normally wore, except hers was in shades of yellow and orange. The exception was that she was barefoot. She even had the Water Tribe insignia on her belt. With her were also a couple of earthbenders, but not many. For now though, the main concern for the Water Tribe was to free Cronia, and then move from there to the Eastern Air Temple and secure it in the name of the Water Tribe and remove the Avatar’s forces from it.

Tenoko’s dramatic all-out assault pounded Cronia with such force that they were easily able to utilize Kyla’s Riddle and storm the city within minutes of arriving. It was as if the spirits had granted them with a huge burst of luck. Additionally, Sokka and his company that were going to hunt for Katara, would be incredibly lucky, and not because of anything of their own doing.

Of course, this “wave of luck” was entirely based on who you asked. For The Avatar Guard, this was a stroke of bad karma, for their strength, which was holding Katara back, was about to fail.

Katara’s right arm had flared up. It had been an accident, but it had broken the chain around her wrist because of the extreme heat and force. This was the catalyst that Katara needed to unleash her Chi-Dominant fury on the chains that were holding her down. She wrenched her other arm free, and soon broke the chains on her ankles. Without even looking at the guards, she blasted herself through the wall. She soon regretted this, as her 15-year-old frame, though very durable, and even more so while in her Kyoshi Uniform, wasn’t immune to pain.

As a result, she felt a bit dizzy and dazed as she blasted her way out into the fray. However, her power was peaking, mostly due to conditions that would cut down on any other firebender’s power: cold temperature: the sun obscured by clouds, and a light drizzle of rain. Granted, this also lowered Katara’s power, but the “mechanics” behind Katara’s power worked differently for her due to her Chi-Dominance. The less power she had, the easier it was for her to control it.

Katara blazed her way through the city, searching for the source of the Water Tribe assault that was besieging the city in order to recapture it. It did not take long for her to pinpoint the direction, and she took off towards them, only stopping when enemies blocked her way. She did not kill them if she didn’t have to. It was the type of rush where a person just knocks down anyone in their way to get to their destination, instead of stopping to fight or kill them.

She soon ran into Sokka and his clan, and of course, being in a battle, there was little room for a welcome back, and Katara didn’t care. She hated being welcomed back anyways. Right now, her single goal was to exterminate anyone foolish enough to try and make any part of the Water Tribe a part of the Avatar Realm.

Ultimately, this war was going very nicely for Tenoko’s troops. Xilingshi proved herself to be an amazing warrior for the Water Tribe, and within a few hours, they had reclaimed the northern section of the city (since their attack had been from the north). Ultimately, this, along with Katara breaking free, was part of A Vast Stroke of Luck.

The SOURCE of Redwhoopass~a thousand Red Giant stars, cause everyone knows they're the fuel source for 48% of all Redwhoopass20% comes from the drugs and voodoo10% from Pentagrams destroyed by robot unicornsanother 20% comes from Red's natural powers and the wookie side of the familyand the last 2% is undeterminable, but we suspect it comes from being a chat modMarshmallow peep souls increase Redwhoopass strength. They are an amplifier or catalyst [/Pleh]

StashinGremlins wrote:I'm not mean, I just say what most people keep in their heads.

Somewhere over the rainbow, Red is highAnd the tulips that you tripped inOnce in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbowBlue smurfs flyAnd the trips that you tripped in Trips really do come soon* Sooo oooo oon!

Someday I’ll wish upon a starWake up where the anons are far behind meWhere Anons melt like lemon dropsHigh above the chimney tops that’s where you’ll ***** me oh

Well I see Tevs of green andRed wookies too, Headshots of boom, for me and youAnd I think to myselfWhat a wonderful Chat

Well I see fonts of blue and I see noobs use whiteAnd the brightness of pinkI like to sneeze and I think to myselfWhat a wonderful Chat

The colors of the rainbow are so pretty in the skyAre also on the profiles of people passing byI see friends facing palms,Saying, “How stupid are you?”They’re really saying, I…I love youI hear anons cry and I watch them join,They’ll become new members,New ships to be coined.And I think to myself What a wonderful Chat

Someday I’ll wish upon a starLog in where the anons are far behind meWhere Anons melt like lemon dropsHigh above the chimney that’s where you’ll ***** meOh, Somewhere over the rainbow, Red is highAnd the trip that you dare to, why, oh why can’t I?

anyhoot, more violence, and Katara ownage.And what happened to Xilingshi? we'll find out in the next chapter. as soon as I can get my program up and running again I'll update the map.till then, here's chapter 14. enjoy.

CHAPTER 14: THE VIOLENT SKIRMISHCronia was getting devastated with the endless waves of Water Tribe forces that were hitting it. Rebuilding it would be something they would do later, as it was much easier to rebuild a city than to try and drive occupying enemies out of it. Besides, 2100 years ago they had rebuilt the city which eventually became Koldia from a state near extinction. The Water Tribes were tough and resilient, and a heavily damaged city, even one as large as Cronia, would do little to impact them negatively.

Katara met up with one of her Kyoshi Warriors, who seemed quite pleased to see her.

“And yet it fails to surprise me, Major Katara,” she remarked as she and Katara began cutting people left and right, and stabbing anyone foolish enough to step to them.

“You know me too well, Misaha,” Katara chuckled, using the girl’s name, “my power prohibits me from being confined. The sooner The Avatar Guard learns that, the sooner they will be able to figure out how to capture me and actually hold me down.”

“Indeed,” Misaha laughed, “but now with you out, I need to get you back to your army—we’re awaiting a strategy from our genius.”

“Misaha, I’m 15,” Katara laughed, using a spinning flaming kick to blast a hole through a wall and exterminate the three Avatar Guard warriors guarding it, “surely you and the others can think of a strategy without the help of a teenage girl.”

Though Katara was the leader of the 15th Division, one of only 4 all-Kyoshi Warrior divisions in the world, she was one of the youngest ones there. Her leadership skills came from her own stubbornness and refusal to back down from a decision once she made it. Her tactical genius came from her own experiences once again, and her trial and error on how to evade Avatar Guard members.

“Oh, we did,” Misaha replied, as she and Katar got locked in combat with a pair of earthbenders, “Nakrelu held us together well enough. It’s probably just a morale-booster, knowing that our leader is a girl younger than us, and yet more experienced than almost any of us.”

Misaha laughed just as hard as Katara. She dove, jumping head-first into a rock thrown by one of her earthbending foes, shattering it. She sent the shards directly back at the earthbender, slamming her against the nearest wall and impaling her in many places with the spiked shards that were fragments of the rock Misaha had just smashed.

Katara overwhelmed her opponent, a male, with a blast of lightning. It actually blasted him nearly in half, and left him torched. Once she had done this, she then turned to Misaha, who smirked.

“That’s the Katara we know and love,” she said, “we missed you. Let’s get back to the others now.”

And so that was what they did. Katara’s division was recovering from a large-scale attack they had launched, and were in an Avatar Guard-free area of the city. From here, Katara quickly assessed her troops and resources. She still had the same 523 Kyoshi Warriors that survived the first set of battles they had been through. These were the battle-hardened champions that had survived from the original 750 that had been the 15th Division. Becoming some of the most skilled veterans in along time, they stopped taking new recruits, regardless of their experience. Katara knew at once what she was going to do.

“What’s going to happen,” Katara grinned, “is we are going to pull off a series of feints and withdrawls, using our benders to harass our opponents, and our raw brute force to dish out chokeslams and face-stampings to these damn fools who thought they could mess with the Southern Water Tribe, and the 15th Kyoshi Division!”

They cheered. Katara’s pep talk was a little on the absurd side, but that was just the way they liked it. Being battle-hardened warriors, jokes about their abilities were common.

“Are you in?” she asked them, and they all agreed, despite them being worn out. Of course, seeing their injured leader breathing heavily and yet acting as if she was in perfect condition gave them the crucial morale boost that would lead them into battle again.

It was not long before effects of Katara’s plan were seen by other groups of warriors. Kai in particular did not like how violent they were, but it was the nature of a Kyoshi Warrior to be recklessly violent and bloodlusted.

“Do they really have to be so violent?” Kai exclaimed as she watched 7 Kyoshi warriors overwhelm a group of fire and earthbenders, both male and female, with their sharp metal weaponry and their own vicious and reckless bending techniques. When they had finished, their uniforms were all splattered with blood of their enemies. Granted, there was no Kyoshi Warrior, not even Katara, who was not stained with blood as well, but Kai saw such bloody violence as unnecessary.

“They’re Kyoshi Warriors,” Sokka replied, “Being bloodthirsty is part of the job description.” He and Kai had stopped to heal their wounds. Kai, being the more skilled of the two, finished with Sokka’s wounds before Sokka finished with Kai’s, and so Sokka was still healing Kai’s wounds at this point, though was doing well at it.

Kai shook her head. “It is why I could never join them,” she remarked.

“And don’t let that bother you, Kai,” Sokka replied, “the reputation of Kai Serenes and the reputations of Kyoshi Warriors are two different things. People don’t look at Kyoshi Warriors as friendly. They avoid them at all costs mostly, because they’re so mercilessly violent.”

“I know,” Kai added, “but still—these are our fellow brothers and sisters, even if they are enemies. If we wish to end their lives, it can be done easily and effectively without mutilating them.”

“I’ve tried talking reason to my sister,” said Sokka, “and she’s the leader of them. There’s nothing that can be done. Katara is so fixated on ending this war that she’s adopted the violent tendencies of the Kyoshi Warriors. However, just like they won’t change for the world, we do not have to become like them. Kai, regardless, we have the same goal—we wish to liberate the world from the avatar’s clutches.”

Kai smiled. “Thank you, Sokka,” she replied gently.

“Any time,” Sokka shrugged, “now let’s get out there and fight”

Kai smiled and said no more. With that, Sokka finished his healing techniques on her and then roared back into action, Kai right behind him.

It was only a few hours before Katara reported to Chief Tenoko that Croniz had been purged of the Avatar Guard, and that they had fled eastward. Swift-moving spies and scouts had told them that there were many ships here, as if the remaining Avatatr Guard was planning to retreat northward and out of the Southern Water Tribe Lands. By this time, they were all back in Koldia.

“I’ve got to hand it to you,” Tenoko smiled, “that were some fancy fanwork out there. You and the 15th Division, Katara, will be hailed as heroes once we’re all fixed up. I’ll be organizing a festival within the next day or two.”

Woo MOAR PWNAGE!!!!!Tera, just take that crappy computer of yours and just drop kick the damn thing out the door, and beat the crap out of it with a sledgehammer already. ;DThen take a n00b (''any'' person you want. . . ) and ditto said above. . . =PWoo, jk. not really ;D Anyways awesome dude. Luv this story.

The SOURCE of Redwhoopass~a thousand Red Giant stars, cause everyone knows they're the fuel source for 48% of all Redwhoopass20% comes from the drugs and voodoo10% from Pentagrams destroyed by robot unicornsanother 20% comes from Red's natural powers and the wookie side of the familyand the last 2% is undeterminable, but we suspect it comes from being a chat modMarshmallow peep souls increase Redwhoopass strength. They are an amplifier or catalyst [/Pleh]

StashinGremlins wrote:I'm not mean, I just say what most people keep in their heads.

Somewhere over the rainbow, Red is highAnd the tulips that you tripped inOnce in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbowBlue smurfs flyAnd the trips that you tripped in Trips really do come soon* Sooo oooo oon!

Someday I’ll wish upon a starWake up where the anons are far behind meWhere Anons melt like lemon dropsHigh above the chimney tops that’s where you’ll ***** me oh

Well I see Tevs of green andRed wookies too, Headshots of boom, for me and youAnd I think to myselfWhat a wonderful Chat

Well I see fonts of blue and I see noobs use whiteAnd the brightness of pinkI like to sneeze and I think to myselfWhat a wonderful Chat

The colors of the rainbow are so pretty in the skyAre also on the profiles of people passing byI see friends facing palms,Saying, “How stupid are you?”They’re really saying, I…I love youI hear anons cry and I watch them join,They’ll become new members,New ships to be coined.And I think to myself What a wonderful Chat

Someday I’ll wish upon a starLog in where the anons are far behind meWhere Anons melt like lemon dropsHigh above the chimney that’s where you’ll ***** meOh, Somewhere over the rainbow, Red is highAnd the trip that you dare to, why, oh why can’t I?